Self-contained baseboard heating unit



March 29, 1960 c. E. THOMPSON 2,930,880

SELF-CONTAINED BASEBOARD HEATING UNIT Filed July 1, 1957 INVENTOR. Omar: I. manna/v.

SELF-CONTAINED BASEBOARD HEATING UNIT CharlesE. Thompson, Indianapolis, Ind., assignor to Meier Electric and Machine Company, Inc., Indianapolis, Ind., a corporation Application July 1, 1957, Serial No. 669,015

2 Claims. (Cl. 219-34) This invention relates generally to electric baseboard heating and in particular to heating units of this type which are pro-wired and may be installed without disassembling the unit. 7

With the increased useof perimeter heating systems in dwelling constructions it has become recognized that electric baseboard heating units form a convenient and relatively low-cost means for fabricating such systems. Conventionally, the electric heaters are installed by sec.- tions forming a continuous run around the outer walls of a room or enclosure. The conventional formnof baseboard heater requires disassembly before installation in order-that the supporting,'rear plate may be mounted in baseboard position against the wall. This disassembly isalso required in order to provide wiring between the heater sections from a junction box incorporated in each heater section, this wiring conventionally extending within a trough, or runway, provided in the heater cabinet or housing.

The present invention provides a baseboard heater, and a means for interconnecting the heater unit with adjacent units. The unit need not be disassembled for installation and can be readily integrated into a continuous run of heater units. This is accomplished by providing the unit with connecting means at each end-face of the unit, the connecting means providing circuit connections to adjacently mounted heating units.

, United statg patem IQ ice 2 ing units forming sections of a continuous run of heating unitsmounted against awall 12. Spacer brackets 13 serve to enclose the connecting means, to be subsequently described, between the heater units.

Referring to Figs. 2, 3 and 4 there is shown a heating unit comprising a cabinet formed by a rear plate 14 having an outwardly extending upper margin perforated as at 16 to provide convection air openings. 7 A concavely formed air-directing member 17 is attached to the back plate adjacent its base. Spaced openings such as those indicated at 18 in Fig- 2 permit mounting of the heater unit by means of screws inserted through the openings and into the adjacent wall studs.

Supporting brackets 19 serve to mount a conventional sheathed electric heating element 20 which extends generally for the length of the cabinet. A guard plate 21 mounted to the cabinet by means of screws 22 covers the central portion of the open face of the cabinet and provides a heat radiating surface, the source of heat for this surface being the heating element.

The heating unit cabinet includes end plates 25 which are'formed to provide a housing 26 enclosing the means for electrically interconnecting adjacent heater units. The electrical connecting means comprises areceptacle unit 27 which carries three vertically aligned springtype sockets 28 which are internally connected by wiring (not shown) to the heater element 20. The internal wiring is such that the central terminal provides a ground connection for the heating unit cabinet, and bus wires connect the receptacle unit at the opposite end of the heater cabinet in parallel with the heater unit in conventional fashion.

The sockets 2-8 are adapted to receive the matching prongs 29 of a connector member referred to generally at 31 in Fig. 4. This connector member comprises a plate 32, which may be formed of suitable electrical insulating material, having aligned prongs 29 extending from one face and similar prongs 33 extending from the opposite face of the plate. The connector member thus serves as A further object of the present invention is to provide a self contained electric baseboard heater unit which, upon installation, requires no additional wiring other than attachment of the connecting means at each end of the unit to the connecting means carried by the adjacent heater units.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a self-contained electric baseboard heating unit which can be easily removed from a continuous run of heating units in which it forms a section.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the accompanying drawings and the following description and claims.

Fig. i is a fragmentary perspective view of a continuous run of baseboard heating units.

Fig. 2 is a front view, having portions broken away,

.of a heating unit embodying the present invention.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the unit shown in Fig. 2 with a portion of the connecting means removed.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the components shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of a portion of the connector means incorporated into a modified form of the invention.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 but illustrates a further component of the connecting means incorporated into the modified form of the invention.

Fig. 7 is a front view with portions broken away of a heating unit embodying the modified form of the invention.

In Fig. 1 there is shown at 10 and 11 baseboard heatan electrical connecting link between adjacent heating unit's when they are installed as sections of a continuous run of heater units.

In such 'a continuous run of heating'unit sections, the connector member may be omitted from the end of the terminal unit, the removability of the connector member thus providing a convenient means for utilizing a standard form of heating uniteither as an internal section or as the dead-ended section of a continuous run of heating units.

Referring now to Figs. 5, 6 and 7, the modified form of the present invention provides connecting means for a heating unit which is similar in all other respects to the unit described with reference to Fig. 2. The heating unit of Fig. 7 utilizes a female connector member 34 (Fig. 5) and a male connector member 36 (Fig. 6) mounted at opposite ends of the block 37, formed of suitable insulating material and carrying three vertically aligned prongs 39 which extend beyond the plate at one of their ends to form electrical terminals 38. At their other end the prongs are formed so as to extend rearwardly, when mounted on the heating unit, in a plane normal to the plane of the wall against which the heating unit is positioned.

The female connector member comprises a block or plate 41 which carries three vertically aligned connectors, having one of their ends extending beyond the plate to provide electrical terminals 42. The other ends of the connector members are formed so as to provide prongreceiving sockets 43, the resilient blades defining the sockets extending forwardly when mounted on the heater unit, in a plane normal to the plane of the wall against which the heating unit is positioned.

With the heating unit having the connector members mounted thereon as shown in Fig. 7 it will be evident that the rearwardly extending prongs 39 will be positioned so as to be accommodated in the corresponding sockets carried by the connector member of the next adjacent heating unit, and that the sockets 43 at the opposite end of the heating unit will be positioned so as to receive the rearwardly extending prongs of the corresponding adjacent heating unit.

Thus, when the heating unit forms a section of a continuous run, it may be removed from the run of heating units for repair of replacement by removing the means fastening it to the wall, and manually displacing the appropriate end of the heating unit outwardly so as to remove the prongs 39' from the accommodating sockets carried by the adjacent heating unit.

The sockets 43 may be freed from the prongs of the next adjacent heating unit by loosening this adjacent unit from the wall and moving its corresponding end outwardly sufficiently to withdraw its prongs from the sockets. With its connecting means thus disconnected, the unit to be removed may then be completely detached from the run of heating unit sections.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the present invention provides a heating unit which is self-contained and is characterized by connecting means which permit convenient accommodation of the unit as a section of a continuous run of heating units. The modified form of the invention is characterized by a connecting means which permits easy removal of the heating unit from a continuous run.

While the invention has been disclosed and described in some detail in the drawings and foregoing description, they are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character, as other modifications may readily suggest themselves to persons skilled in this art and within the broad scope of the invention, reference being had to the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:

l. A self-contained electric baseboard heating unit adapted to form a section of a continuous run of heating units comprising an elongated heater-enclosing cabinet adapted to be mounted in conventional baseboard position, an electric heating element extending the length of said cabinet, connecting means for said element com- 4 prising receptacle units mounted at each end-face of the cabinet, each of said units having three aligned prongreceiving receptacles therein, each of said units having one receptacle electrically connected to opposite ends of said heating element, each having another one of said receptacles electrically grounded to said cabinet and each having its third receptacle connected to the heating element-connected receptacle of the opposite unit, and

.a connector member comprising a plate having unitary,

stamped prong members extending from opposite faces of the plate, one set of prong members being adapted to be received within one of the receptacle units of the heater-enclosing cabinet and the other set of prong members being adapted to be received by the receptacle unit of an adjacent heating unit section.

2. A self-contained electric baseboard heating unit adapted to form a section of a continuous run of heating units comprising an elongated heater-enclosing cabinet adapted to be mounted in conventional baseboard position, an electric heating element extending the length of said cabinet, connecting means for said element comprising receptacle units mounted at each end-face of the cabinet, each of said units having three aligned prongreceiving receptacles therein, each of said units having one receptacle electrically connected to opposite ends of 'said heating element, each having another one of said receptacles electrically grounded to said cabinet and each having its third receptacle connected to the heating element-connected receptacle of the opposite unit, whereby said heating unit element may be connected in parallel with the elements of adjacent heating units and the cabinets of adjacent units may be interconnected to ground.

References Cited in the file of this patent 

